VFD Sports Marketing Fight Of The Week: Kawajiri vs. Gomi

November 14, 2014

It’s September 25, 2005 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. The event is Pride Bushido 9 and Takanori Gomi is staring across the Pride ring at Tatsuya Kawajiri in a quarterfinal battle of the #1 and #2 ranked lightweights in the world. Keep in mind that this event was a Pride tournament, so the winner of this fight had to fight again that evening.

These two Japanese gladiators put on a battle for the ages, with Gomi taking the victory via rear naked choke at 7:42 in the first round. The unanimous response following this fight was that it was the fight of the year. You can view the epic battle below:

Gomi and Kawajiri became household names in the international MMA world following this bout, rather than just local Japanese heroes. They really put Japanese MMA and lightweight fighting on the map. And even more significantly, Takanori Gomi went on to have one of those special careers as one of the greatest lightweight fighters in the history of MMA. Not too shabby!

VFD Marketing is a full-service sports marketing agency that specializes in driving brand awareness through digital marketing and activations through sports marketing, entertainment and modeling. A leader in the industry, VFD is able to set and achieve its clients’ goals through leveraging relationships with athletes, entertainers and models as well as increasing visibility through web services and media production. Follow VFD Marketing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, for updates and the latest information.